Leaverbuster is an oversimplified and outdated system.
So, let's establish some rough facts:
- Based off my past 4 leaves (due to a crashing bug) the minimum to get leaverbusted punishment is 3 minutes in 2 instances. -The leaverbuster punishment is: +20 minute queue times for the next 5 games
- Games tagged with "Leaver" count as a loss
To begin, let's tackle the simplest issue with increasing queue times. Making a player wait 20 minutes for a game, only to realize they aren't ready the moment a queue pops rather than while in the 20 minute queue, it resets the queue time. You're telling me that a player is allowed to changed their mind for 20 minutes but the moment an actual queue occurs they have to wait another 20 minutes for a game? This is not just a problem due to time, but also because errors tend to occur after accepting a queue. So, the automated system may screw you over due to a bug or lag (the client runs terribly by the way, I saw a pretty large Reddit post discussing this).
Next, the problem with having a 20 minute queue is that it creates a snowballing problem. If I remember correctly, you can leave and afk during your 5 games after a leaverbuster and get hit with absolutely nothing. In that sense, you get free passes (not sure if all 5 you can afk or just a few, but still) which is horrible.
The last problem with 20 minute queues is another snowballing problem. You're increasing wait-time on a player who may not have enough time to begin with. So they'll end up leaving the games early (often casual players, people with jobs, people with generally busy lives or people with strict parents). By busting people for leaving, more people are leaving...thanks.
The other area of concern is the minimum to get leaverbusted. If I afk 3 minutes, I'm most likely down 2 levels and 10-15 cs. This is not a completely game-changing number. Especially considering when spread across a 30 minute game it won't matter at all. You could argue that 1 kill's worth of cs is huge but unless they recall with that, then it's literally worth nothing. You stay in lane for 60 seconds, you're caught up in exp. To catch up in cs you either are better at csing, or they waste their teleport 3-4 minutes in. So in this entire area of leaverbuster 3 minutes is basically insignificant. You literally have to stay alive for 1 wave to get level 2. 5 minutes from the old system was significant and understandable alright, go back to that. I have not AFKed 5 minutes in my past 4 leaves so I am certain it is not 5 minutes.
Last thing I'd like to talk about is the fact that you're losing LP and rewards for leaving. Leaving that doesn't really affect the game is ok, if I left and came back 3-5 minutes later and still played extremely well and carried, that should not be a "loss". This is another punishment that is outdated and makes no sense.
The solution?
Make reporting people for afk actually useful. It's one of the more abused reports, 1st being intentional feeding (just because a player is doing bad, doesn't mean they're intentionally feeding). Reporting for afk could be actually really useful now to make the leaver system not entirely based on automation. Players have ~30 minutes to reconnect and have an explanation for leaving in their chat logs, and if it is ranked they should not deserve the win for AFKing more than 5 minutes (a significant amount of time). However, now that this mastery system is solidified, leavers should be able to redeem themselves. If they get a B (maybe A- or something) or higher and help the team, they should not get a loss. Basically, if you do well enough to make up for leaving then it should be negated. Leaving should not be an automatic D-, I think if you get an S+ AND joined 5 minutes late you are way more deserving. If you lose however, all this is negated and you get a D- for leaving 5 minutes. A final idea I came up with while editing is reducing LP by the % of the game you missed. You rejoin at the last minute then you get 3% LP (basically 0), you rejoin 10 minutes in you get 33% less (assuming a 30 minute game).
TL;DR the solution: A combination of chat logs, user reports, and making up the detriment for your team should make this system far more flexible, fair, and relieving. Reducing LP by how much of the game you missed is a good idea.
Feel free to correct my grammar and tell me I used semi-colons wrong.
Also, explain to me the downside of this idea. I mean, I don't immediately see one; it still punishes players who miss most of a game, it still prevents trolling and intentionally ruining games, but it doesn't punish the ones who AFK an insignificant amount of time for a justifiable reason and manage to save the game. So, if you're going to downvote I'd like to know that you read the thing feel free to downvote without explaining and leave me hanging though .-.
